Celebrating Differences for World Autism Acceptance Month!
With April comes Autism Acceptance Month 2025, and our team is ready to prepare your class to celebrate! In this article, we’ll cover how you can help children with autism navigate the craziness of preparing for a school musical and the benefits of doing so. After all, our musical productions are inclusive for everyone. Let’s get right to it!
Autism Acceptance Month 2025
Autism Acceptance Month 2025 is all about raising awareness for and being more inclusive of autistic people in society. Organisations participating in Autism Acceptance Month aim to build stronger support systems and promote understanding across all members of the community.
In schools, this may mean celebrating children’s differences. Ways you can do this include getting creative with drama workshops, planning an assembly, and even staging a school musical.
Benefits of Performance for Autistic Children
Musical theatre can help autistic children in more ways than you first might think. Some common advantages include:
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Sensory integration
School musicals can involve a range of sensory experiences, from feeling the rhythm of the music to using your body for expressive purposes. These sensory activities can help autistic children develop essential sensory processing skills in a structured yet enjoyable way. Furthermore, performing on a stage encourages body awareness, promoting both gross and fine motor skills.
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Enhancing communication skills
Sometimes, verbal communication and social interactions can be tricky for children with autism. However, musical theatre can enhance this by helping children develop better social skills through group work, whether by speaking with fellow actors, singing in a choir, or practicing a tune in a band.
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Improving emotional expression
The fantastic thing about music is that it enables children with autism to express their emotions in a controlled and positive way. Playing or listening to musical instruments can help individuals understand and process their emotions, often leading to improved emotional regulation.
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Building confidence
Working towards a goal, such as nailing a musical performance, can provide children with a huge sense of accomplishment and pride, positively impacting their self-esteem. Finding a role suited to each child’s level is great – even a non-speaking or background role can work wonders, as it encourages students to get involved and feel part of the production (even if they don’t feel up to a lead or speaking role). This can be great for any child, but especially those who feel different from others in their class.
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Boosting cognitive skills
Our musicals require children to focus during rehearsals. Structuring these rehearsals as part of a regular class routine can help children with autism practice focus, attention, and memory – cognitive skills that are essential in various settings.
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Elevating creativity
School musicals are all about getting creative. They allow children with autism to engage in artistic expression through a variety of ways, from stepping into the shoes of a new character to exploring a fictional world. This can help schoolchildren with autism understand different perspectives, foster imagination, and develop empathy – and sometimes, a different perspective is exactly what a performance needs to get to the next level!
Tips for Helping Autistic Students with School Musicals
We know more than anyone that preparing for a school musical can get a little crazy, so how can you help your autistic students navigate this? Here, we’ve compiled some tips to help your students make the most of this creative period and thoroughly enjoy it.
1. Create a visual aid
Create a visual aid to illustrate how a school musical will run, incorporating time blocks for specific activities, such as songs, dance routines, and breaks. This will help autistic students structure the musical so they can predict what will occur next, reducing uncertainty.
2. Prepare in advance
Take some time to introduce the children to the performance space and the props that will be used in the school musical ahead of using them. This will help them familiarise themselves with the environment and materials, thereby decreasing the potential anxiety associated with the unknown. Practicing with the props can help children become increasingly comfortable with them.
3. Choose the right role
Different parts have different levels of participation in our school musicals. You can range from being the all-singing, all-dancing star of the show to taking on a more comfortable, non-verbal role. The character you assign to an autistic student should be matched to their preferred level of participation so they don’t become overloaded with stress and anxiety.
4. Minimise sensory overload
Let’s face it – school musicals can certainly be sensory-heavy experiences. To best prepare autistic students for this experience, remember to provide sensory breaks when needed or give them a space backstage to relax should they feel overwhelmed. Comforting sensory items, including headphones and weighted blankets, can help your students manage sensory input.
In terms of the play itself, see if you can adjust the lighting and sound during rehearsals to help your students avoid overstimulation.
5. Offer clear expectations
Be specific when giving instructions to your students by breaking them down into small, manageable steps that autistic children can easily understand. For example, instead of saying, "Let’s practice a song," say, "Let’s sing the first section of the song, and after that, we’ll take a ten-minute break.".
You could also create some descriptions to outline what will happen during each rehearsal. Details could include, "You will enter the stage from the right" and "There will be applause at the end of the show”. Outlining these precise details can help autistic students mentally prepare for upcoming events.
School Musicals That Celebrate Differences
Our primary school musicals and secondary school versions work to teach children some valuable lessons, including celebrating inclusivity. Here are a few of our most popular musicals which explore themes of celebrating differences:
The Jungle Book is one of our favourite school musicals, addressing the themes of identity and acceptance. Mowgli is famous for being different within the jungle, standing out amongst the animals as a human boy. Most of the jungle animals accept him into their community, embracing differences, while Shere Khan represents a force of prejudice and exclusion.
Based on the classic novel Oliver Twist, this school musical explores differences in social class and the concept of belonging. It includes characters from all walks of life, from the orphan Oliver and the mischievous Dodger to the upper-class Mr. Brownlow. Oliver’s success in finding a family celebrates the fact that anyone can find a place to belong, regardless of who they are and where they come from.
This KS2 musical, also available as a senior version, explores different characters’ journeys and the acceptance of their unique qualities. The musical highlights that the things people may see as their weaknesses are actually what makes them strong and valuable. For example, the Lion believes he lacks courage, yet he repeatedly shows bravery in protecting his friends.
As an engaging short musical for KS1 students, Rock Pool is also a fantastic musical which celebrates the differences of each character. Crabby’s journey of improvement shows that being different isn’t a disadvantage – it just means he had to follow a different path to achieve his desire. Meanwhile, the lobster characters are accepting, teaching Crabby how to play the guitar. They demonstrate that collaboration between diverse groups can lead to positive experiences and valuable insights.
Putting musicals aside, the Little Blue Star is a standout example of a nativity that focuses on the theme of inclusivity. Other stars initially reject the Little Blue Star character because it is different, but throughout the story, it learns that being different doesn’t make it less important. This is a crucial message for young audiences, emphasising that everyone has value regardless of how they may stand out.
Celebrate Autism Acceptance Month 2025 in Style
At the School Musicals Company, we believe that musical theatre is for everyone, and we should work to celebrate our differences along the way. If you have any questions about navigating Autism Acceptance Month 2025 and supporting students with autism with music or during a school production, please don't hesitate to contact us. Our team will be more than happy to address your query.
For more musical insights, don’t forget to check out the rest of our blog!